Government invests in science museum to attract researchers

Children should be getting a hands-on experience of science and technology by 2013 when a museum opens in San Ġwann to spark their imagination.

The museum will be based on the concept of Amsterdam's Nemo, an interactive science centre for children where it is forbidden not to touch.

"We only have one rule at Nemo: please touch everything you see and explore," the Dutch museum says on its website.

Speaking during a visit to the offices of the Malta Council for Science and Technology in Bighi last week, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said he was fascinated by the Dutch centre. He had visited while on holiday last summer and had given instructions for a similar structure to be built by the end of the legislature.

He stressed the importance of getting children enthusiastic about science by exposing them to the subject from an early age.

Dr Gonzi said that although computers and the internet had brought science to children's fingertips, he wanted to go a step further and have a fixed place where youngsters could come face-to-face with science.

He described the Nemo centre as a place where children of all ages could "touch with their hands, see with their eyes, hear and experience the beauty of science".

"The government will provide funds for this place, which will hopefully attract children to science and lead to the researchers which the country needs in the future," he said.

The museum will be part of the planned Life Sciences Park, intended to catalyse the development of a biotechnology industry.

A Finance Ministry spokesman said talks were underway with local and international experts in life sciences to determine what activities would be hosted in the San Ġwann park.

Dr Gonzi stressed that research was an extremely important sector and had even been chosen by the EU as one of its six pillars for its 2020 vision.

Referring to recent news that Malta was considered among moderate innovators on the European Innovation Scoreboard for 2009, Dr Gonzi said more had to be done because the country was still close to the bottom of the rankings.

He said the role of the MCST's new chairman, Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, was to be a continuous interface between research and the development of government policy.

The government doubled MCST's funds for this year to €700,000, which have been increased to €2 million after tapping into EU funds. Part of the funds are going into a human genome database, kept at the University. The database already has thousands of DNA and organ tissue samples, which, according to researcher Chris Scerri, should be "a magnet" for research companies.